VOR flight instructional aid and method of use

Abstract

A VOR flight instructional aid and methods for its use are described herein. Said instructional aid comprises a base, a course indicator arm pivotably connected to said base, and a physical representation of an aircraft connected to the end of the course indicator arm. Said instructional aid may further comprise an OBS/CDI indicator disk pivotably connected to the base for illustrating the approximate appearance of a CDI display resulting from various combinations of aircraft position and OBS setting. Said instructional aid may be used by: 1) placing the base on a flight navigation chart; 2) substantially aligning the pivot point of the course indicator arm above the position of the desired VOR station on the chart; and 3) rotating the course indicator arm to an OBS-selected radial, thereby physically representing the aircraft position relative to the VOR station. Further steps may include rotating the OBS/CDI indicator disk to an OBS-selected radial, and noting the resulting approximate CDI needle appearance physically and graphically represented by the position of the course indicator arm relative to the OBS/CDI indicator disk.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A VOR flight instructional aid, comprising: means for supporting said instructional aid on a chart and for viewing the chart therethrough;   a course indicator arm having a first end, a second end, and a pivot point between the first end and the second end, said course indicator arm being pivotably secured to and supported by said supporting and viewing means at the pivot point and rotatable about a substantially vertical axis through the pivot point; and   a physical representation of an aircraft connected to the first end of said course indicator arm, thereby enabling a user to physically represent a course for the aircraft.   
     
     
       2. A VOR flight instructional aid as recited in claim 1, wherein said supporting and viewing means comprises a substantially transparent flat plate. 
     
     
       3. A VOR flight instructional aid as recited in claim 1, further comprising an auxiliary indicator arm substantially rigidly connected to said course indicator arm at the pivot point, wherein said auxiliary arm is positioned substantially perpendicular to said course indicator arm and said auxiliary arm rotates about the rotation axis with said course indicator arm. 
     
     
       4. A flight instructional aid as recited in claim 3, further comprising a substantially circular ring substantially concentric with the rotation axis and secured to at least one of said course indicator arm and said auxiliary arm, thereby dividing the ring into four substantially equal quadrants. 
     
     
       5. A VOR flight instructional aid as recited in claim 1, wherein said aircraft representation is connected to the first end of said course indicator arm by an elongated inclined arm, said inclined arm sloping from the first end of the course indicator arm radially outward and upward. 
     
     
       6. A VOR flight instructional aid as recited in claim 1, wherein said aircraft representation is pivotably connected to the first end of said course indicator arm and comprises a heading indicator, thereby allowing the user to physically represent a heading of the aircraft. 
     
     
       7. A VOR flight instructional aid as recited in claim 6, wherein said heading indicator comprises a miniature model of the aircraft. 
     
     
       8. A VOR flight instructional aid as recited in claim 1, further comprising means for indicating an OBS-selected radial on a chart and means for graphically representing an approximate appearance of a CDI needle for various combinations of aircraft course and an OBS setting. 
     
     
       9. A VOR flight instructional aid as recited in claim 8, wherein said indicating means and said graphical representing means comprise an OBS/CDI disk, said OBS/CDI disk comprising a flattened substantially circular disk having a center, a circumference, a top surface, and a bottom surface, wherein said disk is substantially transparent, said disk is pivotably secured to and supported by said supporting and viewing means, said disk may rotate about the vertical rotation axis relative to said supporting and viewing means and relative to said course indicator arm, said disk has lines on the top surface dividing the top surface into first, second, third, and fourth substantially equal quadrants disposed in a clockwise progression around said disk, and said disk has markings comprising: an arrow indicator pointing radially outward between the first and second quadrants, the word "FROM" in each of the first and second quadrants, the word "TO" in each of the third and fourth quadrants, a graphical representation of a CDI needle displaced to the right in each of the first and fourth quadrants, and a graphical representation of a CDI needle displaced to the left in each of the second and third quadrants. 
     
     
       10. A VOR flight instructional aid as recited in claim 9, further comprising: an auxiliary indicator arm substantially rigidly connected to said course indicator arm at the pivot point, wherein said auxiliary arm is positioned substantially perpendicular to said course indicator arm and said auxiliary arm rotates about the rotation axis with said course indicator arm; and   a substantially circular ring substantially concentric with the rotation axis and secured to at least one of said course indicator arm and said auxiliary arm, thereby dividing the ring into four substantially equal quadrants,   wherein:   said supporting and viewing means comprises a substantially transparent flat plate;   said aircraft representation is connected to the first end of said course indicator arm by an elongated inclined arm, said inclined arm sloping from the first end of the course indicator arm radially outward and upward; and   said aircraft representation is pivotably connected to the first end of said course indicator arm and comprises a miniature model of the aircraft, thereby allowing the user to physically represent a heading of the aircraft.   
     
     
       11. A method for providing VOR flight instruction using the VOR flight instructional aid as recited in claim 9, comprising the steps of: A) placing said VOR instructional aid on a chart with the pivot substantially aligned above a VOR station marker on the chart;   B) rotating said course indicator arm to a position above a first radial from the VOR station marker on the chart;   C) rotating said OBS/CDI disk and positioning the arrow indicator above an OBS-selected radial from the VOR station marker on the chart;   D) noting the position of said representation of the aircraft relative to the VOR station marker on the chart; and   E) noting which of the markings of said OBS/CDI disk appear beneath said course indicator arm, thereby illustrating an approximate appearance of the CDI needle.   
     
     
       12. A method for providing VOR flight instruction using the VOR flight instructional aid as recited in claim 8, comprising the steps of: A) placing said VOR instructional aid on a chart with the pivot substantially aligned above a VOR station marker on the chart;   B) rotating said course indicator arm to a position above a first radial from the VOR station marker on the chart;   C) rotating said indicating means to a position above an OBS-selected radial from the VOR station marker on the chart;   D) noting the position of said representation of the aircraft relative to the VOR station marker on the chart; and   E) noting the approximate appearance of the CDI needle represented by said graphically representing means.   
     
     
       13. A method for providing VOR flight instruction using the VOR flight instructional aid as recited in claim 1, comprising the steps of: A) placing said VOR flight instructional aid on a chart with the pivot substantially aligned above a VOR station marker on the chart;   B) rotating said course indicator arm to a position above an OBS-selected radial from the VOR station marker on the chart; and   C) noting the position of said representation of the aircraft relative to the VOR station marker on the chart.